Shrimp
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True shrimp are small, swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water.
Taxonomy
A number of more or less unrelated crustaceans also have the word "shrimp" in their common name. Examples are the mantis shrimp and the opposum or mysid shrimp, both of which belong to the same class (Malacostraca) as the true shrimp, but constitute two different orders within it, the Stomatopoda and the Mysidacea. Triops longicaudatus or Triops cancriformis are also popular animals in freshwater aquaria, and are often called shrimp, although they belong instead to the Notostraca, a quite unrelated group.
Shrimp are distinguished from the superficially similar prawns by the structure of the gills, and by the fact that female shrimp (as in all other pleocyemates) brood the eggs on their pleopods. There is, however, much confusion between the two, especially among non-specialists, and many shrimp are called "prawns" and many prawns are called "shrimp". This is particularly widespread in culinary contexts, including the following sections.
Shrimps in aquaria
Shrimp fishery and farming
See Shrimp fishery, which covers both shrimp and prawns, for details.de:Garnelen es:Camarón fr:Crevette nl:Garnaal ja:エビ pt:Camarão sv:Räkor zh:虾